I'm surrounded by kind people

My first 2 weeks in Singapore saw me being confined to my mom's place but had opened my eyes to the many kindness surrounding me.

I thank God for my friends. Almost everyday, I had friends coming to visit me. The fridge was soon full of fruits and cakes that I had to tell my visitors not to bring anything. I am so touched by everyone's concern.

Rachel was my chauffeur on two occasions when we were invited to Diana's gathering and a brunch at PS Cafe. Due to my wounds, I was not able to fit into any shoes except my TEVA sandals. Knowing that, Elena went out of the way to look for suitable shoes for me and finally found a pair. It was not an easy task looking for a size 3 and with a specific design to avoid any contact with the wound. And the best thing was, she brought the shoes to me at 10.30pm yesterday. Hey, God must have told her I need presentable shoes to go with the black dress that I intended to wear for Diana's ROM ceremony today. The shoes given by Elena were perfect! What a sweet, unexpected surprise. The size fits; they were black and very comfortable.

During meet-ups with friends, all of them watched out for me and made sure I won't accidentally knock my foot on random things by clearing the path. I am so touched. Being away for so many years, we are never not out of touch. This is real friendship. Thank you my friends.

Toy rental

Before coming to Singapore, I checked out the toy rental services available. I am surprised with the number of websites offering toys at affordable rent. Here is the list:
http://rent-a-toy.com/shop/
http://www.toys4rent.sg/
http://www.toyrentalclub.com/getting_here.html
http://www.littlefairyland.com/
http://rent-that-toy.com

I got a bumbo baby sitter and a bouncer from one of the above sites. Delivery was free for an order of $35 and above. It definitely beats having to lug items from France to keep baby A entertained for a month.

My boy can turn

One thing good about staying at home all the time is being able to observe my boy's development. He is able to turn himself over today. Finally! He has been trying this since he arrives in Singapore. I guess my mom's bed is big enough for him to rotate and turn.
Baby A's grandma teached him how to hold the milk bottle and blow his nose. Of course, he can only hold on to his milk bottle when he is about to finish it as it is lighter.
Baby A also starts to babble some new sounds. They are slightly higher in pitch.

I managed to do short video clips on the above actions. Seb was able to see on direct his son turning via Skype. Technology is amazing. We are so far, yet so near. Speaking of which, I am so near, yet so far. I am in Singapore but has not visit anywhere in Singapore yet. I'm thinking about extending my stay here.....

Still home bound

It seems like I am doing my second confinement here in Singapore. I have been here since a week and has not visited anywhere.

My foot is getting better and the wounds are slowly drying up. Still, I cannot go out as my foot is swollen and I can't walk properly. I am glad that I brought books here to read. There is also WII for us to play at home.

Baby A is getting used to the weather. At 4 months old, he is trying to turn over on the bed. He manages to turn his body but he does not know how to place his arm underneath so it is stuck. We have to help him and my mom is watching him closely.

All my friends find baby A cute and I find all their babies cute too. Babies, they all grow so fast. I guess this is the time we find our children the cutest.

Freak accident happens

How heavy is a car? Very heavy indeed but not enough to crush my toes. Thank God!

This morning, my left foot got run over by a car. The car stayed on my foot for some seconds before moving forward to release my foot. The following events happened as it should; rushed to nearby clinic for consultation, took 2 panadols, sent to Changi Hospital by ambulance, consulted the doctor at A&E, took an X-ray to assert the situation. No bones broken. Dressed up the wounds, retreived the medication, paid the bill and left home. My brother was with me all the time and Elena came and fetched us home. I shall not dwell into the details of the accident. It was after all a freak accident and no one is to be blamed.

I was conscious through out the whole ordeal and at one time, even found it funny as I could not decide if the red on my toes were my nail polish or blood. I am sure I will be a little depress upon seeing the state of my toes when the bandages are removed.

I am not able to walk properly. I called up my credit card company as I paid my air tickets with them and travel insurance was included by default. They were really proactive, calling me from France to check on my situation and offering to help me in any ways possible. That includes getting assistance to get out of the country if necessary and paying up front for my hospitalisation bill. I needed none of that. We shall see if I am apt to travel alone back with baby A in 3 weeks time. Good thing that the accident happened in the beginning of my visit and not at the end. I will have forced rest at the comfort of my mom's home.

I was also impressed with the efficiency of the medical team here. The paramedics assured me and updated me on my situation throughout the ambulance journey and the hospital staff were professional. Many thanks go to Elena and Carmen who helped greatly and also to well wishes from friends and relatives who came visit. We held a mini-celebration for baby A's home-coming to Singapore this afternoon. Yes, the SHOW MUST GO ON!

Paris in August

Each July/August, part of the quay is closed to make way for Paris Plage (Paris beach). We went for a walk along the quay and was surprised that there was not many people on a weekend. It was pleasant walking along the banks of the Seine. The Paris Plage had lots of actitives and they were free of charge. The sun benches were all taken up. There were tai ji classes, massages, gym machines, water sprinklers etc....

After exiting from the quay, we walked along rue Saint Honoré and saw a Barbie foot in a boutique. It was so cool.

I'm sure any guy who is a baby foot fan will go crazy over it.

Compiegne

We went visiting Compiegne for the first time last saturday. Compiegne is about an hour's drive north of Paris. I know of this city only because Jessie's parents-in-law live there. Other than that, I know nothing else.

The highway roads were classified 'black' on saturday as it was the day of the "grand depart de vacances". Everyone was heading south for their summer vacation. Going up north, the highway road was smooth flowing and we mostly saw dutch and german cars heading home after their vacation in France.

Upon arriving in Compiegne, we easily found a public parking lot. The town was quiet. It was definitely not a vacation destination in August. Most shops were closed. There was an open market and we bought 2 artichokes. Seb and I loved to visit fresh food market. After lunch, we walked up to the castle and visited the castle's park. The castle looked well maintained but I only noticed a tour bus. As for the castle's park, it was calm. There was hardly anyone.
As in any outing, a little shopping for me obliged. As it was the post-sale season, Okaidi was having extra promotion. Buy an item and the second item was at 2€ and the third article at 1€. I got 3 sets of summer clothes for my boy. At Petit Bateaux, I bought lots of body suits. For the moment, I have enough clothes for my boy until the end of the year.
As usual, baby A slept throughout the trip except during his feed. I guess I will visit Compiegne again. We saw a museum of figurines and were sure that Angel would be interested to visit it. We will come with him when he visits us again.

Angel's visit

Angel had been in france several times this year due to work. We met up again in july as his schedule permitted. I invited him over to our place for lunch and cooked him a simple meal with tomatoes and mozarella as entrée and lor bak(braised meat) as main dish. After lunch, we visited the Cité Université and Parc Montsouris. I always wanted to visit this area of Paris. Cité Université was basically a big hostel for foreign students studying in Paris. There were many different buildings with an international theme. There were the Japan house, the Canada house, Brazil house, India house etc...
As for Parc Montsouris, it was crowded as with any park in Paris on a sunday. There were playgrounds and amusement rides for children. There was also little pony rides available. We had a pleasant time strolling in the park.

We met up Angel again a few days later for a falafel dinner at rue des Rosiers in the third district of Paris. It rained heavily during the evening. Still, we had a good time. Angel was kind enough to help me bring back 2 tins of milk powder. My boy and I will be in Singapore soon and I appreciate Angel's gesture to help lighten my luggage bag.

Singapore day goodies bag

Sam gave me a goodie bag from the recent Singapore day event held in London. Thanks a lot Sam. As I wrote earlier, I missed out on the event as it was near my delivery date.

Look, there's a lot of "I love Sg" stuff. There's a cloth bag, a t-shirt, a CD of swing, an eraser, a pin, a picnic mat, a black diary and a paper ball that I used to play. Most of all, I like the "Chope" wet-tissue pack. It is so Singaporean.

Sam's second visit

It had been a year since Sam's visit. This year, he came again during Bastille Day. We met up for lunch on 14 July and for tea, we stopped by La Durée. It seems that we are keeping up with tradition.

This time round, Sam brought along his friend Ian who was visiting him from Australia. We had a delightful time chatting and Ian took some beautiful photos of baby A.

The next day, history repeated itself when Sam missed his flight. This time round, there were problems on a few train lines including RER B which goes to the airport. I myself was affected on the way home after work. Due to the hot summer, there was bush fire along the rail line. Sam was stuck at Gare du Nord and the taxi queue was way too long. He came over to our place for the night. I actually remembered teasing him just the day before "Hey, don't miss your flight this time round, ok?" Guess Paris loves him too much.

Full time working mom

I am back at work this week. My friends in Facebook thought that was fast. Indeed, it is fast. Well, in France, maternity leave is 16 weeks. 6 weeks pre-natal followed by 10 weeks post-natal. A preggie can choose to go on leave just 3 weeks before the estimated delivery date. I was given 2 weeks sick leave before the start of my 6 weeks pre-natal leave. Baby A arrived 2 weeks earlier. Hence I start work when he is 13 weeks old.
I do enjoy my job and I have great colleagues. So it is not too difficult to leave baby A at home. At the moment, Seb is taking care of baby A. He took 4 weeks of leave with the 11 days paternity leave included. He is enjoying his time with his "mini me". After which, I will be on 7 weeks leave. It is very kind of my company to allow this exception. I still have 3 weeks of unused leave from last year. This year, I still have 6 weeks of leave. I am taking this opportunity to spend 3 weeks in Singapore. I am looking forward to this trip on SQ A380. I just hope that baby A will take it easy on his maiden flight.
By late September, baby A will join the child care center nearby our place. We are very fortunate to have a place there as the waiting list is very long. However, it closes by 6.15pm which is really early. Seb and I will have to organise our working hours. He will drop baby A at the child care center and I will go pick him up after work.
So far, we are doing fine with our new family addition. He is a good boy and we really enjoy his presence though we wish we could sleep more.

We went Champagne to buy champagne

Reims is the city in Champagne and is accessible from Paris in 45mins by TGV. Since we would like to visit the countryside, we decided to drive over. For the first part of the day, we visited the uptown of Reims.

The Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Reims is famous as the place where kings were traditionally crowned. While having lunch, Seb called up some Champagne Houses to check if we could visit the cellar. We made an appointment with the champagne house, Ployez-Jacquemart.

During the hour guided visit of the cellar that was 25 meters underground, we learnt the process of making champagne. In the cool cellar, there were tens of thousands of champagne bottles waiting to be appreciated. I was carrying baby A on the baby carrier and he must be the youngest person to ever visit the cellar. After the visit, we were invited to drink some champagne. I bought half a dozen of bottles as I am doing a "pot de naissance" at my office.

The countryside of Champagne was very green. There was vineyards everywhere. As it was spring, the grapes were still small.

If you are planning to visit champagne but has no car, there is always tour bus leaving from Reims to bring you on the champagne winegrowers route. Just check out this site. http://www.reims-tourism.com/

Plane crashes

Recently, France was hit by two sad aviation news.

About a month ago, an Air France plane flying from Brazil to France fell into Atlantic Ocean. The 200 plus people on board all perished. It seems that the speed sensors for the Airbus 330 was at fault during the stormy weather. Air France had since then replaced all the speed sensors of this airbus. A brother of an acquaintance we knew was among the passengers. Though we do not know the person, we felt sorry for the man's family.

And when we were sending my mom off at CDG airport last tuesday, there was a crowd forming at the information counter. Airport officials were present too. Seb was already guessing that there was another crash. In the car on the way home, we heard from the radio that a plane heading to the Comoros Islands had crashed into the sea. Only one teenager girl had survived. There is a huge comoros community in France and the people are upset. The Yemenia Airbus 310 is banned from France as it fails in the routine maintenance checks. What happened was that the passengers boarded on a Yemenia Airbus A330-200 from France and at the Yemen airport, they were transferred to the Airbus 310 heading for Comoro. I bumped into the guardian of our residence today and during our greetings, he shared with me that his younger brother was on that fateful flight. He left behind his wife and a 18 month old baby. I felt so sad for him. He added that since 8 years, the Comoro people has constantly requested the authority to do something about this "avion poubelle" (rubbish plane). Originally from Comoro, he had took this plane once to visit his family. He prayed very hard during the flight from Yemen to Comoro as the state of the plane made him scared. Now, he travels only with Air France to go Comoro.

In France, a black list of airline companies exist. Usually these blacklisted companies offer low-cost flights. As people travels more frequently, it is hard to resist to such offers.

And as usual, as I dwell into these tragedies, my husband has a way of breaking the ambiance. He mentioned that these losses are just a tiny fraction of the number of road victims in France each year. Well, he is right. Good thing that news casters only sensationalize plane crashes. If they do that on road accidents too, I had to throw the television away to avoid being depressive.

The red windmill

Who has not heard of Moulin Rouge in Paris? Knowing that mom will enjoy such show, I got us 2 tickets for an evening of fun and entertainment.

Each evening, there are two shows available. The first at 9pm and the second at 11pm. Dinner is available as an option for the first show. Since mom is not into french food and I don't eat foie gras, we just went for the show. At the table, each person is given half a bottle of champagne.

We reached there early and was seated in the middle of the hall. Though we did not have a close up view, we did have an unblocked view of the whole stage.

The 1hour and 45minutes show was entertaining. Beside dancing and singing, there were also other stage performers like jugglers, acrobats, voice dubbing comedian ... There was not a dull moment.

There was a mixture of topless and non-topless dancers. Not all the doriss girls were well endowed. Some had rather small breasts. But one thing for sure, the ladies all had flat tummy. What an envie!

The beautiful costumes made all dancers looked elegant. There were so many costumes and there were so many actions going on that we had no time to admire all the costumes. Though the ticket did not come cheap, we find the evening enjoyable and think it was worth every penny.

The garden at Giverny

After seeing Claude Monet's master pieces at Museum d'Orsay, I had wanted to visit his garden at Giverny. Beside being an impressionist artist, Claude Monet was also a vivid gardener. He had made le jardin de Giverny his subject in some paintings.

With the good weather last wednesday, I drove up to Giverny with my mom and baby A to visit Monet's garden. The garden has two parts. One in the house compound and the other one across the road. The first one is full of flowers while the other one has willow trees, bamboo trees and other green plants surrounding a pond and a little stream.

Mom and I enjoyed the lovely garden. We did not visit the interior of Monet's house as there were stairs and not stroller friendly. Baby A slept throughout the visit except during feeding time. I guess the only thing he saw was the big shady tree where we were resting.

The staff at the garden were friendly. I saw many tourists from England, America, Japan and China. We easily spent more than two hours in the garden though it was not very big. I guess the best time to visit the garden is now though it is open from march to november.

Chateau Chambord

Since mom is here, she has not done much sight seeing. Of course, her aim this time round is to take care of her grandson. And having been here 4 times, she has seen the major attractions of Paris. Still, I felt bad for not bringing her around and decided to visit Chateau Chambord togather.

We left early on saturday and after almost 2 hours drive (with a feeding stop for baby A), we arrived just in time for lunch at the domaine. Seb carried the baby in the baby carrier as a pushchair was not convenient with all the stairs in the castle. The entrance fees was 9,50€.

The chateau is famous for its double-helix staircase right in the middle of the hall. It also has lots of huge fireplaces. It is the biggest chateau in the Loire valley (there are many along the river Loire). Mom got all excited when she saw swifts/swallows flying around. She was wondering if there were lots of bird nests around. My mom!

After visiting the chateau, we wanted very much to visit the next pretty chateau, Chateau Chenonceau. However, after stopping along the way to feed baby A, we decided to head back home. It would take us 3 hours to drive back home and it was getting late.

As usual, baby A slept throughout the trip except during feeding time. I came to realise that each time we go out, he would sleep. Mom will be here for another 2 weeks and we are going to make the best out of her remaining stay to visit other things. Stay tune to my blog for more updates.

On Bumwear and Sock Ons

I will have to keep this post short. Being a new mom is more than a full time job. I hardly have time to myself despite having my mom around. But as the weeks pass, I am better organised and can squeeze some minutes to consecrate to my blog.


Baby A is growing well. I asked mom to bring some washable diapers and recently started to use these diapers on baby A. I ordered these diapers from Bumwear. It looks bulky and I waited until baby achieved 4kg before trying on him. I only use it on him during the day and when the weather is warm. It is not possible to put a body suit over the bumwear diaper during cold days. These diapers are a long term investments as they can last until baby A is toilet trained. I remembered when I asked Seb what color he preferred, he told me to get 10 of the same color - white. Huh? I got 10 of them in different colors. It would be so boring to only have one color.

In the photo above, baby A is wearing a Bumwear and also Sock Ons. Sock Ons is the little thing that helps to keep baby A's socks on. He is not able to kick out his socks thanks to my neighbour who ordered it from UK.

There are so many innovative baby products out there. So far, I am satisfied with my purchases. I am trying to be reasonable. Tomorrow, we will have to shop for a new pram. The hand-me-down pram is 9 year old and showing signs of wear and tear. Maybe my next post will be on the pram. If you are expecting subjects apart from baby stuff, at the moment, I have nothing else to offer you. I do hope very much to write a post about travels and vacations soon. But that is in my KIV tray......

A lovely card about Votre petit garçon

Baby A has been receiving lovely gifts and cards. I just love the text of this particular Hallmark card given by Seb's god-parents. I find it really meaningful and heart-warming. Here it is in french. Sorry, I have no time to translate it into english.

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En le comblant d'amour et en lui offrant ce qu'il faut pour s'épanouir,

les parents donnent à leur enfant des racines solides et des ailes pour s'envoler.

Comme il est mignon! A peine vient-il de faire son entrée chez vous que vous étes déjà complètement fous.

Et chaque fois que vous le tenez au creux de vos bras, vous sentez votre coeur s'emplir d'une douce chaleur.

Il ne le sait pas encore, mais il a une chance inouïe, car il a des parents en or...

Par l'amour qu'il recevra de vous, il apprendra l'importance des ses racines et, par la confiance que vous lui donnerez, il apprendra à voler de ses propres ailes, non pas pour s'éloigner de vous, mais pour s'élancer vers une vie heureuse et belle.

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9 months are finally over

Today is my estimated delivery date. However, baby A decided to arrive early. He was borned 11 days earlier and weighed a mighty 3.340kg at 50cm. He is really the average size french baby but with regards to my petite frame, he is considered big for me. I did have a difficult time pushing him out. My mid-wife was telling me that my bed rest was too long and I should have given birth earlier. Well, I will know better next time.

I left the clinic on saturday and just nice, my mom arrived at 7am on this day. She is a great help to us. It's been a week since we are home. Baby A is growing well. As with all new borns, he lost 10% of his weight within the first few days. Now he is steady gaining weight and is at 3.150kg. He drinks well and sleeps well during the day. At night, it is more difficult putting him to bed.

Bao Bei is accepting baby A quite alright. She tends to tip-toe around him. In the above pic, Bao Bei was just watching over baby A. As new parents, we are tired due to the lack of sleep. For me, I feel like "la vache qui rit" (the laughing cow), just feeding and feeding.

Easter and prawn mee

It was Easter. Usually, we would spend the long weekend (monday is a holiday) at Seb's parents place watching our nephews searching for eggs in the garden. This year however, we just spent our weekend at home.

Since baby is due in 3 weeks time, I decided to cook prawn mee. Conforming to the confinement practise, I can't eat prawns after giving birth for at least a month. And I love prawns. This was the first time I made prawn noodles. I used the Prima Taste package and found the soup to be too sweet for my taste. I doubt I will cook this again. I prefer the Prima mee-siam.

After dinner, I was craving for chocolate. Once said, my neighbour knocked on our door and gave us an easter egg. It was lovely. Seb and I did not wait long to break up this lovely rooster egg.

I wish everyone a happy easter.